Socotra: Qalansiyah Town
Qalansiyah is the second largest town on Socotra after the capital of Hadibo. Around 4,000 people live here is square stone houses along the beach and oceanfront, almost all of them fishermen. Fishing boats for the beach and kids play around. No women can be seen, as they are all inside the home – Socotra like Yemen embrace strict Islamic Shariah culture. The surrounding landscape is deserty and desolate, as is the town’s beach and all the classical Yemeni stone architecture with low-level one story flat-roofed building and only mosque minarets sticking out high. Kids ran toward us in dozens, as it’s still very very uncommon to see any foreign tourists here.
